Denver group hands out 10K meth pipes, ‘snort kits,’ connects 1,700 to treatment annually

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In addition to collecting more than 8,000 used needles in the past year from Denver drug users, the Harm Reduction Action Center passed out 10,000 meth pipes and “snort kits,” according to a newsletter sent to its supporters Thursday. They also connected about 1,700 people to medical, mental health and substance abuse treatment.

“Reminder, smoking is risk reduction over injecting and many smokers weren't served for years and now have access to experts/resources/referrals,” the center’s executive director, Lisa Raville, wrote in the newsletter.

Center hooks people up with treatment

HRAC hooked up 238 of its members and 396 of its non-members with substance abuse treatment, according to the newsletter, and they connected 247 members and 415 non-members to mental health treatment. For medical referrals, 232 members and 394 non-members received treatment, according to the newsletter. An additional 282 members and 478 non-members were connected to housing and identification replacement services, the newsletter reported.

The center’s detractors say HRAC enables the addicted. But Raville counters that people who otherwise are ignored get connected to rehab, medical treatment and safer drug use supplies. In the case of the meth pipes, smoking meth is considered safer than injecting it, Raville explained in an email. The same goes for snorting it.

Keeping forgotten people alive

For all the criticism HRAC receives, they keep forgotten people alive, Raville said. HRAC’s outreach team provided 552 naloxone trainings between July 2023 and June 2024 and distributed a total of 1,385 naloxone kits to center participants and community members, according to the newsletter. “Naloxone consistently remains one of our most highly requested services,” Raville wrote of the opioid antidote.

“HRAC’s outreach team served at least 27 unique locations (including neighborhoods like Park Hill, Globeville, RiNo, Capitol Hill, Glendale, Five Points, Denver Tech Center, south by Englewood, and more) primarily determining these underserved locations by asking our participants for feedback on where services are needed,” Raville writes in the newsletter. “Additionally, our outreach director responds to requests from neighbors and businesses to visit some encampments with supportive services. Our outreach director also recognizes that a large amount of people who are underserved are not actually within Denver but in surrounding cities and meets folks at the border of Denver in order to serve them for these resources to reach a wider range.”

Cleaning up the neighborhood

In addition to all the services they provides, HRAC volunteers clean up the neighborhood regularly, Raville reports in the newsletter. The next cleanup is on Aug. 3, she wrote. Since last July, there have been 67 cleanups, Raville said. “We meet at HRAC at 10 a.m. sharp to beautify our neighborhood,” Raville writes. “It's one thing to say we're going to be a good neighbor; we have to continuously show folks that we are a good neighbor.”

Overdose deaths: 212 so far this year

Unfortunately, people still are dying of drug overdose, Raville said. "Friends we know, love, and serve are dying in this prohibition crisis,” Raville explains. “And dying publicly.”

So far, 212 people have died in Denver this year, according to the Denver Medical Examiner's office. Eighty-two of them were unhoused. “Overdose continues to be the leading cause of death of our unhoused friends,” Raville wrote in the newsletter.